Minister for Reintegration Serebrian Responds Firmly to Transnistrian Measures Amid Customs Code Dispute

Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration in Chișinău, Oleg Serebrian, asserts that the decisions announced by Tiraspol, including the cancellation of the “preferential customs regime” for farmers in Dubăsari, do not intimidate constitutional authorities.

According to the official, these so-called “response measures” will not prompt Chișinău to reconsider its position regarding the new provisions of the Customs Code.

“The escalation race in relations between Chișinău and Tiraspol is harmful. These steps do not intimidate us in any way, and they will not make us reconsider our position. Concessions regarding the Customs Code will not be made,” stated Oleg Serebrian to the press in Chișinău.

The Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration also noted that if an agreement is not reached in Tiraspol, authorities in Chișinău will decide how to compensate for the losses suffered by farmers. “This is not the first time we have resorted to such compensations, although I hope it will not come to that,” he added.

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It should be mentioned that the new Customs Code came into effect in the Republic of Moldova on January 1, eliminating all exemptions from customs duties enjoyed by economic agents in the separatist Transnistrian region for decades. According to Chișinău, the principle of fairness for all business representatives in the Republic of Moldova has been ensured.

Transnistrian separatists expressed dissatisfaction with the new provisions and implemented a series of so-called “response measures” to Chișinău’s decision.

Therefore, the separatist regime obliges farmers in Dubăsari, whose agricultural lands are located along the Râbnița-Tiraspol route, to pay taxes to the budget of the Transnistrian region. Additionally, starting from February 1, legal entities registered in the Republic of Moldova operating in the Transnistrian region will have to pay for gas and electricity according to the rates on the right bank of the Dniester River.